Blanket supports



March 24, 1959 w. M. EMERY 2,873,492

' BLANKET SUPPORTS Filed Sept. 27, 1956 United 3tates Patent BLANKET SUPPORTS William M. Emery, New Providence, N .J

Application September 27, 1956, Serial No. 612,426

6 Claims. (Cl. -319) My present invention, like my previous Patent #2,7l0,414, refers to blanket supports to hold bedding away from the body of a sleeper or patient.

Purposes of my invention include: (1) the creation of a novel overhanging structure of simple, inexpensive, duplicated parts, easilyv and compactly disassembable, light of weight and accordingly shippable in an inexpensive carton; (2) to provide a blanket support for use either at the foot or side of the bed with suflicient overhang to raise the covers over a substantial body area and overhanging so as to not interfere with movement or care of the patient; (3) to provide a single relatively narrow, unified, vertical support section, assembly or column providing a minimum of contact with the patient and additional rigidity to the structure; (4) to include in the blanket support the function of a foot board; and other objects and means to accomplish them that will be obvious from the following specification claims and drawings in which:

Figure l is an isometric view of the device Fig. 2 is a similar view from a different angle Fig. 3 is a plan view of a loop Fig. 4 is a view in elevation of the column portion of my device Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing a method of joining the loop of Fig. 3 with the column shown in Fig. 4

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section taken on line 6-6 of Fig.4

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section of an alternative construction viewed in a similar manner as Fig. 6.

My novel blanket support structure includes in general terms an upperloop assembly 10, a lower loop assembly and a column assembly 30.

The upper and lower loops, 10 and 20, are substantially identical and consist of a 0 shaped loop 11, of

round resilient wire or rod of suitable diameter such as Mr and suitable material such as steel or other metal and a suitable protective covering for loop 11, such as vinyl tubing 12, except for exposed ends 13 and 14. Ends 13 and 14 converge.

The column assembly may be made in a number of forms without departing from my invention-such as that shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, consisting of two 0 shaped loops 31 and 31 of round rod of a greater diameter than that of loop 11. Loops 31 and 31' are substantially identical and have short horizontal lower sections 32 and 32', a long radius and substantial right-angle bends 33 and 33, substantially straight vertical sections 34, upper radius bends 35 and 35 of less than 90", diagonal sections 36 and 36, bends 37 and 37' and straight sections 38 and 38'. The total horizontal length 35, 36, 37 and 38 is greater than that of 32 and 33. The combined bends of 3S and 37 is generally equivalent to a right-angle such as33.

Loops 31 and 31' are hinged or pivoted relative to each other by insertion into flattened metal tube 40 and are separated by a spacer 41. The purpose of hinging loops 31 and 31' together by means of tube 40 is so the ice loops will pivot flat for shipment and to provide additional stiflness and rigidity to the column during use. The upper and lower exposed sections of loops 31 and 31' are covered with vinyl tubing such as 43 in Fig. 5 and the flattened tube 40 is also covered with vinyl tubing such as 44 in Fig. 6. Spacer 41 is frictionally held between rods 34 and 34 and tends to frictionally gear them for opposite limited rotation.

The space should be' noted between either end of spacer 41 and the inner wall of flattened tube 40 as shown in Fig. 6. Because of the pressure produced by spacer 41 pressing rods 31 and 31 against the inner wall of tube 40, a frictional gear relationship is established between parts 31, 40 and 30 so that when 31' is turned clockwise, spacer 41 travels downward as shown in Fig. 6 until its lower end abuts tube 40 and at the same time rod 31 will turn counter clockwise. Thus synchronized opposite rotational or pivotal limited motion is established between rods 31 and 31. So long as the limits of the movement are not exceeded the traverse axis of tube 40 will always remain at right angles to a line bisecting the angle formed by the ends of 31 and 31.

Fig. 7 shows an alternate construction in which a formed piece of metal 40 with a cross section plainly shown in Fig. 7 avoids the expense of tubing such as 40 in Fig. 6.

Another alternate construction which would appear obvious from the foregoing descriptions would be to replace assembly 30 with a piece of tubing having the shape and bends of 31 but of larger diameter than 31 but probably smaller diameter than 40. Each end said tubing would then be flattened somewhat like 40 to receive ends 13 and 14 of loops 10 and 20 in a converging manner-or formed piece 40' could be continued in the shape, size and bends of 31 and would obviously receive ends 13 and 14 if they were further bent to be more nearly parallel rather than converging.

Fig. 5 shows the method of joining loops 10 and 20 with loops 30 and 30' and thus illustrates 4 joints 32 with 13, 32 with 14, 38 with 13 and 38' with 14. This is done by drilling a hole axially in the ends 32, 32', 38 and 38' which is slightly larger than the diameter of the wire of loop 11. loop 20 are identical but the horizontal length 33 and 32 are greater in total than that of 34, 36, 37 and 38, it is obvious that the angle formed by 13 and 14 would tend to be different for joining 32 and 32' from that required to join 38 and 38', when assembled. Accordingly certain stresses are set up in the assembled resilient structure when 13 is inserted in 32 and 14 in 32' and 13 is inserted in 38 and 14 in 38. The stress thus created tends to hold or lock ends 13 and 14 in the holes axially drilled in the ends 32 and 32 also 38 and 38'.

Fig. 2 clearly shows that the upper loop consisting of parts 36, 37, 38, 10, 38', 37' and 36 is substantially delta shaped with the general outline of an isosceles triangle with arcs of more than connecting equal and longer sides which starting from a Wide base side converge substantially to an apex where they practically merge to form a single column. The lower loop consisting of parts 32, 20 and 32' are likewise substantially isosceles or delta shaped.

Loops 10 and 20 are in horizontal planes substantially parallel although they can be made sufiiciently divergent for convenient nesting or to compensate for flex under load or variation in desires of users without departing from my invention. Loops 30 and 30 are in vertical planes and are bound together with a hinge formed by tube 34. This combination of opposed planes bound and assembled together results in a surprising stability and- Patented Mar. 24, 1959 Since the loop section of loops'10 and rigidity, particularly when the structure is under internal stresses.

The center distances of bends 33, 35, 38 and the tWo bends of loops 10 and 20 are identical so they can all be made on the same bending 'dies or jigs at a considerable saving in tooling-and'increase-of quantity production elficiency.

In some cases-doctors-desire a foot board, theuse of:which avoids drop foot. SO-attached by means of U bolts 51.

In use, usually-theshorter end 32; 32 and 20 of the blanket support is inserted under the foot of the bed mattress or anywhere along-one side so-the blanket supporting'loop 10 will support the blankets from the feet to the knees-if at the-foot of the' bed, or above any portion of the rest of the body'if placed along the side of the bed, for burns, fractures or sores;

Especially when used at the foot of the bed there'is an advantage'ina unit vertical support instead of two or more such columns, since the sleeperis inconvenienced by foot contact especiallywhen stomach sleeping.

I claim:

1. A blanket support comprising a vertical column assembly including two rods with parallel vertical portions mounted adjacent to each other for limited pivotal movement relative to each other on vertical axes, a lower loop suitable for insertion under a bed mattress for stability, said loop having two ends, an upper loop suitable for the support of bed clothes substantially above a 0 mattress, said upper loop also having two ends and joint means to attach said ends of the lower loop to the lower endof each of said pivotally mounted rods, one loop end to one lower end of each rod respectively and also joint means to attach the ends'of the upper loop to the upper end of each said pivotally mounted rod.

2. A blanket support comprising two similar loops, each loop'having its ends mutually converging and made basically of round wire, two rods bent C shaped each having avertical portion and two horizontal portions, said rods being of larger diameter than round wire of the loop, axially disposed openings in the upper ends of said rods to receive the converging ends of'one of said loops respectively and similar axially disposed openings in the lower ends of said rods to receive the converging'ends of the other of said loops respectively and means to hold said vertical portions of said two rods closely adjacent and parallel to each other.

Fig." 1 shows footboard 3. A blanket support comprising two loops of round wire each with two'ends mutually approaching-each other at a converging angle positioned in substantially horizontal planes spaced one above the other and a C shaped support substantially in a vertical plane the higher end of said C shaped support connecting with the two mutually converging ends of the higher loop and the lower end of said C shaped-support connecting with the two mutually converging ends of the lower loop in such a manner as to space said loops apart.

4. A blanket support comprising an upper blanket supporting loop and a lower base loop, each loop having an isosceles shape with a wide base and converging equal sides culminating in practically an apex and a vertical column interconnecting said loops including a flattened tube and two vertical rods held together by said tube and mounted for independent limited rotation relative to each other within said tube.

5. Acblanket support, including an uppertblanket supporting member, a lower base member and a vertical column structure connecting saidmembers and including a flattened tube, two parallel rods individually rotationally mounted in said tube, a spacer between said rods, said rods and said spacer being frictionally geared together by the pressure therebetween maintained by said flattened tub'e, said spacer having limited movement towards and away from the internal wall of said tube thus producing through said frictional gearing a synchronized limited and oppositely rotational movement of said rods to provide greater compactness for storage and shipment.

6. A blanket support including in its structure a subassembly consisting of a vertical column assembly including two rods with. parallel vertical portions held together and mounted in near contact with each other for limited and opposite rotary movement relative to each other on vertical axis by a flattened hollow tube;

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSv 354,261" Smith Dec. 14, 1886 1,748,227 Hyams Feb. 25, 1930 2,209,801 Valverde July 30, 1940 2,524,469 Orford Oct. 3, 1950 2,588,029 Morris Mar. 4, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 4,097 Great Britain Feb 24, 1908 

